PDC Masters Quarter Finals: Merv King vs. Nathan Aspinall

Merv King marched into the PDC Masters Quarter Finals with an easy 10-5 win over Rob Cross. King was 5-0 up at the first break and never was in any bother. It was another ton plus average and seven of his ten legs won were in 15 darts or fewer. King is averaging 101, checking out at 53% across his two matches so far and it is hard to find fault with his game right now.

Nathan Aspinall never led in his match against Mensur Suljovic, until the very last throw of the match. He took advantage of Suljovic choking when 9-7 up but not able to get over the winning line. The Austrian missed five match darts and it must be said that Aspinall is very fortunate to still be in the tournament. He averaged just 92.4 and only four of his winning legs were in 15 or fewer darts.

Clearly Aspinall needs to up his game considerably if he is to give in the in-form King a match. King has won eight of his last ten matches and is scoring well and finishing well. He might not go on to win the tournament, but he should win this match. He is the 1.83 favourite to do so, which looks on the generous side. We have backed him to win the quarter, which means winning this match, but it is tempting to go in again, so impressive has he been. Across this weekend, the World Championship and the Players Championship, he is averaging 100 so this is no flash in the pan.

PDC Masters Quarter Finals:2 points Merv King to win @ 1.83 with Betfair, Betfred

PDC Masters Quarter Finals: Gerwyn Price vs. Adrian Lewis

There is a bit of an Adrian Lewis love in going on this weekend. It is like we are witnessing the Second Coming or something. He has won two matches. He is smiling a bit more which helps his game, and he has averaged 97.9 so far. That’s good but the problem is that he will very likely have to find another gear just to have a chance.

Gerwyn Price opened up with a 10-3 demolition of the in-form Joe Cullen last night. Price looked very confident indeed and being the top dog clearly suits him. There was not a single sign of any mental let down, just a hunger for more wins.  

Bad Blood

These two are said to be good mates now, but there was some bad blood in the past when Lewis said that Price was just a nobody. I suspect that Price would like to ram those words down Lewis’ throat and he very probably will. Will Lewis make a match of it? If he keeps his standard of play up maybe, but he has dropped 13 legs in his two matches against Smith and Anderson. Anderson only averaged 91 last night and you have to expect Price to be around the ton….or better.

The World Champion is 1.30 to win which looks spot on. Lewis had just one winning leg over 15 darts last night, Price had three. However, Price had six winning legs under 15 darts, including three eleven dart legs, Lewis had just three sub 15 dart legs. Lewis hasn’t been in contention for a long time and is bound to get a bit nervous, while Price is Cock ‘o the North, used not just to contending, but to winning titles.

Iceman The Best In The World

Both players lost their quarter finals here last year, Price was murdered 2-10 by Anderson and Lewis 6-10 by Michael Smith, but things are different this year. Lewis has shown some decent form while Price is the best player in the world, by a decent margin at the moment.

Lewis should win a decent number of legs but looking back at the quarter final scores for the last five years, there have been very few close matches. Just 15% have been by closer than 10-6. 30% have seen 10-6 as the winning score and 60% have fallen between 10-4 and 10-6.

PDC Masters Quarter Finals: 2 points Under 16.5 legs @ 1.82 with Unibet

PDC Masters Quarter Finals: 0.5 point Price to win 10-6 @ 8.00 with Skybet

PDC Masters Quarter Finals – Peter Wright vs. Dave Chisnall

These two met here in the quarter finals last year and Snakebite just about squeaked past Chizzy with a 10-0 win. Back in 2015, the first year at this venue, Chisnall lost 9-10 to MVG in a quarter final, despite averaging 108. That sort of sums Chisnall up. Mercurial is a good description.

He beat Daryl Gurney by the tiniest of margins yesterday. It was a 10-9 win and with Superchin sitting on 24 and the match 9-9, Chisnall was going for double 16 for the match, and thrutched it into the 7 bed…but luckily, the double 7 and he hit double 9 with his last dart. Cruel luck for our bet on Gurney to win the quarter but it did show how nervous Chisnall was, especially as he missed nine doubles in a previous leg. It was a mixed by Chisnall with too many missed doubles but six legs with 15 or fewer darts. He has won two of his four quarter finals here.

 Peter Wright battled hard to beat Simon Whitlock 10-8, despite The Wizard averaging 105.9. It was a very strong display by Snakey. He won his first leg with 21 darts and looked very rusty, but after that every leg he won he won with 15 of fewer darts and six of them in 13 or fewer. Whitlock did very well to give him a match but there only ever looked like one winner.

Wright has a 16-12 H2H record over Chisnall, has won four of their last five and has that 10-0 win here last year in both their heads.

PDC Masters Quarter Finals: 2 points Peter Wright to win -1.50 legs @ 1.80 with SpreadEx

James Wade vs. Jonny Clayton

James Wade was smiling openly after his 10-4 win over Chris Dobey yesterday. That could spell trouble for Clayton. Wade averaged 97.8 with 43.5% on his doubles, classic James Wade. Dobey could have made more of a game of it but he was poor on the doubles.

The Ferret beat MVG 10-9 in the last game of the night. It must be said that MVG did not play with the much trumpeted new darts. Had that been known, maybe betting Clayton outright was the call, as it suggested that MVG was not confident enough to take them into battle. Instead, he took his tried and trusted weapons, but he played like a man with low confidence and when Clayton raced to a 4-1 lead, Van Gerwen looked flustered and he was always chasing the game.

Clayton played well, averaged 97 with 42% on the doubles and seven 180’s. He never really let MVG into the game until the last four legs, when Van Gerwen win three but lost the decider. Clayton had eight winning legs with 15 darts or fewer and that is hard to beat.

Wades scoring was bit more erratic, but he had seven legs with 15 or fewer. Clayton has won four of their last five matches and it is 5-5 overall.

James Wade is the 1.80 favourite with Clayton 2.20 and Clayton looks a touch of value.

PDC Masters Quarter Finals: 1 point Jonny Clayton to win @ 2.20 with Betfred, Betvictor, Skybet

That is me done for the tournament. If there is anything outstanding for the semi-finals, there may be a message on the app.

-JamesPunt